Like a portentous cloud surcharged with irresistible storm and ruin, it seems to fill the whole heavens, making me painfully conscious how unequal to the occasion I am,--how unequal, also, is all that I can say to all that I feel.
He uses a vivid metaphor to convey his feelings of inadequacy in addressing a monumental issue.
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But so long as War exists as an Institution this terrible inconsistency must appear.
Let us at all hazards prevent the extension of Slavery and the increase of the Slave Power.
It applies an arrogant and unrelenting ostracism to all who express themselves against Slavery.
Nay, more,--if it would be criminal in these several clusters of States to reëstablish the Institution of War as Arbiter of Justice, then is it criminal in the Commonwealth of Nations to continue it.
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